Ten months after the Orange County Board of Commissioners reopened the search process for a new waste transfer station site, the search has come down to seven potential locations.

Eubanks Road, which was originally slated to house the transfer station, is ranked fourth on the list after the board applied criteria which factored in economic and environmental considerations.

Olver Inc., the consulting firm hired by the commissioners to conduct the search, will recommend in Tuesday’s work session that the top seven sites move on for a decision based on community-specific criteria.

The Orange County Organizing Committee (OCOC) has come forward to support the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA) and the Coalition to End Environmental Racism (CEER) in their on-going efforts to oppose the building of the proposed Orange County Solid Waste Transfer Station at the present site of the Orange County Landfill.

The Eubanks Road landfill site is immediately adjacent to the historic Rogers Road neighborhood, home to a vibrant African American community for more than 150 years. The Rogers Road community has borne the burdens of living with Orange County’s garbage for 36 years, and now the Eubanks Road landfill site is near the top of the list of proposed sites for the Waste Transfer Station.

Supporters of this community-wide effort to block the construction of a Waste Transfer Station on Eubanks Road are encouraged to join the large community turnout on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of County Commissioners Waste Transfer Station work-session will be held at the Southern Human Services Center, at 2501 Homestead Rd., Chapel Hill.

The Orange County Organizing Committee is a broad-based,non-partisan organization of dues-paying member congregations, associations, neighborhoods and non-profits committed to building power for sustainable social and economic change. OCOC is affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the oldest and largest national organizing and leadership development network in the United States.

The Coalition to End Environmental Racism (CEER) and the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA) consist of residents of the Rogers Road community along with residents of Orange County and members of UNC. They have been working on the Waste Transfer Station relocation issue since April 2007.

CHAPEL HILL – In February a backlash against building a county garbage transfer station on Eubanks Road spurred an elaborate search for a new site.Now the consultant performing the search has recommended seven potential sites — including one on Eubanks Road, which it ranks as fourth-best when only technical criteria are considered.

Commissioners Chairman Barry Jacobs stressed on Wednesday, though, that social factors the board will apply later could automatically lop some of the sites, including the one on Eubanks, from the list.